Sunday, February 07, 2010

Du hast



Spongebob does Rammstein. Life doesn't get much better.

The lyrics, in case you're curious, are:
Du
du hast
du hast mich
du hast mich gefragt
du hast mich gefragt, und ich hab nichts gesagt

Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet
treu ihr sein für alle Tage

Nein

Willst du bis zum Tod, der scheide
sie lieben auch in schlechten Tagen

Nein
Which translates, in case your German isn't as good as it could be, to:
You
you have
you have me
you have asked me
you have asked me and I have said nothing

Do you want, until death separates you,
to be faithful to her for all days

No

Do you want, until death, which would separate,
to love her, even in bad days

No
There is some internet controversy, because the lyric Du hast ("you have") sounds as if he might be saying Du hasst ("you hate"). This is called a "double entendre," and even though that's a French phrase, the Germans have them too.

There's another double entendre here, too. If the line is read as Tod der Scheide it would be "until the death of the vagina" and not "until death, which would separate" (Tod, der scheide).

The whole song is a play on German wedding vows (Wollen Sie einander lieben und achten und die Treue halten bis dass der Tod euch scheidet? - "Do you want to love and respect each other and to remain faithful, until death seperates you?"). Instead of answering with Ja ("I do"), Till says Nein" (finally answering the question he said nothing to in the beginning).

(You've got to love the internet for this kind of trivia.)

This was the second single from their second album (Sehnsucht), and probably their best known, outside of Germany - it was featured in both The Matrix and Guitar Hero 5. It's one of very few German-language songs to be a hit in America (99 Luftballoons also came with an English translation and a really hot singer, and let's not even talk about Danke Schön).

Rammstein, interestingly, was formed in Berlin in 1994. (Well, I think it's interesting - Ramstein being an entirely different city in Germany.) They just released their new album, Liebe ist für Alle da, in October.

No comments: